Two amazing things just happened to Birdstack:
- Friends! Visit any Birdstack member’s profile and you’ll see an “Add as friend” link.
- Activity feeds! If you thought the recent observations board was cool, you’re going to love activity feeds.
Since our earliest beta tests in January ’08, you have been expressing your interest in other Birdstackers — who they are, where they’ve been, what they’re seeing, and how to stay in touch with them. In the months since we launched, many of you have suggested that we add more social networking features, which confirmed hopes and ideas we’ve had since before we even launched Birdstack.
So, you’ve been asking for it, and now it’s here. You can click “Add as friend” on any Birdstacker’s profile page, and that person will receive a notification of your request. (Email notifications are optionally available, and you will also see notifications on your dashboard and in the notifications area at the very top of each page.) Once the notification is accepted, you’ll be friends on Birdstack.
Activity feeds give you a running commentary on what people have been seeing and where. There’s more info about activity feeds and friends in the Q&A below:
OK, I want a friend, but where can I find one?
- Ooo, pick me! (Here’s my profile.) I’d be happy to be your first friend on Birdstack. Curtis is a cool guy too.
- You can search for other Birdstackers based on location, interests, etc. Explore the people page, and don’t miss the “search” link near the top of the page.
- You probably have birding friends who aren’t on Birdstack yet. Send them invitations to join Birdstack, and then welcome them by adding them as friends!
Where can I see activity feeds in action?
Check out the people page or any Birdstacker’s profile. Once you have some friends on Birdstack, you’ll see a snippet of a friend’s recent activity on your dashboard, and you’ll also have a special page that shows recent updates from all of your friends. If you see something interesting in the feeds, don’t forget to pop over and leave a comment for your friend!
Shouldn’t activity feeds be available as Atom feeds, as comments and lists already are?
Yes, yes, they should. We’re working on that.
Will any of this violate my privacy?
No. If you mark your data as private, it stays private and won’t show up an any activity feeds. If you mark something as private after it’s already shown up your activity feed, it will be removed.
What if I don’t want any friends?
Well, that would be sad. But we understand that some of you want to use Birdstack’s powerful data storage and processing capabilities and leave it at that. That’s OK. You don’t have to send any friend requests, and you can ignore any that you receive.
I just added some observations. Why aren’t they showing up in my activity feed yet?
Activity feeds are updated every few minutes.
I like it! I don’t like it! I have another idea!
We want to know what you think. Leave a comment here or use the contact form.
Happy communitizing!